Threat Intelligence and Cyber Threat Management (CTM) Protection Update for the 3rd week of July 2017

New Detection Technique - ELF_SHELLBIND.A

ELF_SHELLBIND.A is similar to various reports of SambaCry being used in the wild, but it separates itself from the pack due to the fact that it targets several IoT devices of various architectures, such as MIPS, ARM, and PowerPC.

We've added IDS signatures and the following correlation rules to detect this activity:

System Compromise, Trojan infection, ELF_SHELLBIND.A

New Detection Technique - NotPetya

NotPetya is a new piece of ransomware that is suspected of utilizing code from the well know Petya ransomware family. Unlike other copy-cats of Petya, it seems unfinished or broken on purpose because the Salsa key that used to encrypt the MFT cannot be recovered. Once encrypted, data cannot be decrypted, even by the malware authors. NotPetya also has the ability to spread via the use of the EternalBlue vulnerability, the EternalRomance vulnerability and credential theft.

We've added IDS signatures and the following correlation rules to detect this activity:

System Compromise, Ransomware infection, NotPetya

New Detection Technique - Ransomware

In the past week, we've seen an uptick in ransomware activity in the wild. We've added IDS signatures and the following correlation rules to detect new ransomware families:

System Compromise, Ransomware infection, Bitshifter

System Compromise, Ransomware infection, Shifr

System Compromise, Ransomware infection, TeslaWare

System Compromise, Ransomware infection, Reyptson

We also added IDS signatures and updated correlation rules to better detect the following ransomware families:

System Compromise, Ransomware infection, Cerber

System Compromise, Ransomware infection, Erebus

System Compromise, Ransomware infection, Filecoder

System Compromise, Ransomware infection, TeslaWare

System Compromise, Ransomware infection, Torrentlocker

New Detection Techniques

We've added the following correlation rules as a result of additional recent malicious activity:

System Compromise, C&C Communication, PoshC2 SSL activity

System Compromise, Trojan infection, MSIL/InstagramAccount

System Compromise, Trojan infection, InstagramAccount

System Compromise, Trojan infection, SinaMicroCore.A

System Compromise, Trojan infection, Win32.Snojan

Updated Detection Technique - Chrome WebEx Extension RCE Attempt

A vulnerability discovered in the Cisco WebEx browser extension could potentially allow an unauthenticated remote attacker to execute commands on the affected system.

We've added IDS signatures and the following correlation rule to detect this activity:

Exploit kits are used in "drive-by downloads." Undetectable by normal users, these kits are embedded in websites by attackers. When a user browses to a website hosting an exploit kit, the kit attempts all known attack methods to compromise the user and install malware on the user's machine. This approach is a common attack vector and a major source of infections for end users. Cybercriminals constantly change the patterns they use within their code to evade detection.

In October 2014, FireEye published a report about a threat actor that they named APT28. ATP28 continues to be active today. As AlienVault's Jaime Blasco described in a blog post, "We have been tracking this threat actor (Sofacy) for a few years when it first appeared on our radar in one of the CVE-2012-0158/CVE-2010-3333 clusters. Based on the lure content contained in the malicious documents, as well as the phishing campaigns we have seen in the past, this group tends to target NATO, Eastern Europe government and military institutions, and defense contractors. We have seen lures related to Ukraine, Chechnya and Georgia that indicates one of the group's objectives is gathering geopolitical intelligence."

We've added new IDS signatures to include the list of certificates identified by Abuse.ch to be associated with malware or botnet activities. The updated correlation rules use this information to detect command and control (C&C) communications related to several malware families, including:

System Compromise, C&C Communication, Known malicious SSL certificate

System Compromise, C&C Communication, Upatre SSL activity

Updated Detection Technique - Tor Onion Proxy

Tor is an open network that enables anonymity and allows users to surf the Internet anonymously. Tor also provides anonymity for servers that can only be accessed through the Tor network and are called hidden services. There are some websites that allow access to Tor hidden services through the Internet without being inside the Tor network.

We've updated the correlation rule that will detect when a system is accessing one of these services. Many ransomware schemes use these services to receive payments and conduct other malicious activities.

Environmental Awareness, Anonymous channel, Tor Onion Proxy

Updated Correlation Rules

We've updated the following correlation rules as a result of recent malicious activity: